A Picnic and Playful Banter
by Darkest Desire
Summary: Selphie and Rinoa plan a picnic for the whole garden gang. Just a cute, slightly humorous fic. Poor Squall gets teased quite a bit and lots of laughter ensues.
1. Childish Antics

Summary: Selphie and Rinoa plan a picnic for the whole garden gang. Just a cute, slightly humorous fic. Poor Squall gets teased quite a bit and lots of laughter ensues. 

Disclaimer: Sadly enough, I don't own Final Fantasy VIII.

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CHAPTER ONE: CHILDISH ANTICS 

It was a beautiful Sunday morning, the summer sunshine warm and relaxing while the slight breeze kept it from becoming too hot. Seeing as it was their day off Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, Zell, Rinoa, Nida, Xu, Squall, and Seifer had decided that they would gather outside to eat a picnic lunch together. Selphie and Rinoa, who had come up with the idea in the first place and gotten all of the food for the picnic (making sure to have plenty of hot dogs for Zell), were busy setting it up on the grassy lawn of the Quad underneath a large oak tree.

It was nearing noon, the time agreed upon to have their little get together. Everyone had, surprisingly, agreed to come with very little complaint (excluding Seifer). Rinoa was excited. Although she knew it was silly, she sometimes felt a bit like an outsider to the group having not been a part of the 'orphanage gang' and all and was hoping to get to know everyone (she really didn't know Nida or Xu that well) a little better. Selphie, of course, was her usual enthusiastic self. She loved planning parties and although this wasn't, strictly speaking, a party she still had been eager to plan it. A lunch for the whole group, it was going to be so much fun!

The checkered cloth Rinoa had bought for the occasion was spread out under the tree, covering the grass. The two picnic baskets full of food that the lunch ladies had been more than happy to provide were set upon the middle of the cloth and a pitcher full of lemonade was sitting atop a nearby table. Selphie was practically bouncing as she looked up to see that the clock in the middle of the quad read two minutes 'til twelve. Everyone should be here soon and then they could get started!

Quistis and Xu were the first to show up. Ever on time they showed up precisely at noon, the specified time. Selphie greeted them happily, a broad grin lighting up her face. Quistis and Xu couldn't help but smile back and waved to Rinoa who was over by the table setting cups up next to the lemonade.

Squall arrived a minute later and even said hi to them all, quite a feat for him. Nida arrived shortly after that, also saying hello to everyone already gathered there.

Zell came next, jogging up to them all and hastily checking with Selphie to make sure she had lots of hotdogs before turning to everyone else with a "Yo, what's up?" Squall, as usual, didn't respond, but Nida went over to Zell and the two began to talk, Zell a lot more loudly than Nida.

Irvine came in next; striding in nonchalantly, seemingly unaware that he was five minutes late. No one seemed to mind too much, except for Selphie who went over to berate him for being late before giggling as Irvine flashed her a sexy smile.

Everyone sat or stood around talking, waiting for the last member of the group to show up. Seifer was late, not that anyone was surprised by this fact, and finally decided to grace them with his presence at 12:15. He strode up to the group, paying no attention to Selphie as she chastised him. Quistis merely rolled her eyes, Squall let out a small snort of disapproval, and Zell's stomach growled.

"Aww man, why'd you have to show up so late?" he complained to Seifer. Then he turned to Selphie a pleading look on his tattooed face. "I'm hungry; can we eat now that Mr. Fashionably Late is here?"

"You're always hungry, Zell," Squall commented from where he was leaning against the tree with his arms crossed across his chest. Seifer let out a derisive snort as others from the group voiced their agreement with Squall.

Selphie giggled a bit before replying. "Of course we can eat now, Zelly! Rinoa and I will set out the food. It'll just take us a minute. Can you wait that long?"

Zell looked as if he was going to whine that he couldn't before he nodded reluctantly to Selphie. "Just hurry up, okay?" he yelled out to her as she carried the baskets over to the table where she and Rinoa took all the food out of them, arranging it upon the tabletop, which also happened to have a checkered cloth on top of it.

Once the food was set out, everyone grabbed a paper plate which they began to pile food upon. Zell was the first to get food, heading straight for the hotdogs and lining five of them in a row on his plate before piling condiments upon them.

Squall grabbed a small piece of barbequed chicken along with some macaroni salad and a glass of lemonade. Seifer snorted at the small amount of food Squall had grabbed. "Trying to watch your girlish figure, Leonhart?" he teased, smirking as Squall sent him a death glare and stormed off to sit down.

Quistis laughed at their antics, hastily covering her mouth with her hand lest Squall should see her. Rinoa and Selphie didn't bother being discrete as they laughed loudly at Squalls expense, even as they shook there head at Seifer for once again getting on Squall's nerves. Irvine smirked at Seifer from across the table, letting out a slight chuckle. Nida and Xu looked at each other before rolling their eyes at Seifer's typical behavior, though they both had large smiles stretching across their faces.

Squall glared at them all from where he sat on the picnic cloth under the tree. "It's not funny," he growled, before muttering under his breath that he did not have a girlish figure. He thought he had said it quietly enough that no one else would hear him, but was proven wrong as everyone but him and Zell (who had been busy fixing up his hotdogs) burst into peals of laughter.

Zell seemed to notice then that something was going on, glancing up from his supreme hotdogs and giving everyone a quizzical glance. "Is there something I missed?" he asked the group in general. This caused everyone to laugh even harder and Zell scratched the back of his head wondering what the hell was so funny about what he had said.

Selphie and Rinoa were, by this time, clutching their stomachs as they doubled over with laughter. Finally everyone settled down again, Seifer rubbing tears of mirth from his eyes and Selphie massaging her poor stomach. "My tummy hurts from laughing so hard," she complained. Everyone smiled at this and Rinoa commented that she felt Selphie's pain, literally.

Finally everybody finished getting their food and went to join Squall. Zell glanced incredulously at the small portion of food on Squall's plate, not understanding how anyone could want anything but a heaping plateful of food. "Did the Doc order you to lose some weight or something, Squall?" he asked, not realizing that Squall's meal size had already been discussed. Squall gave him an exasperated look as everyone else started laughing again.

Squall pouted (a very unusual occurrence) before frustratedly replying, "No, I had a late breakfast, so I'm just not very hungry. Is that all right with all of you?"

"No need to pout now, Squally," Selphie replied good naturedly, patting Squall on top of his head as if he was a little kid or, perhaps, a dog. Seifer snorted with laughter at that and Irvine almost spat out the lemonade he was drinking as Zell choked a bit on his hotdog. Everyone else merely smiled at the display, though Rinoa did comment on how cute Squall looks when he pouts.

"I wasn't pouting!" Squall cried emphatically, glaring at Selphie and Rinoa in turn for making everyone laugh at him once again.

"No, of course you weren't...Squally," Quistis said in a falsely complacent tone, a tone that a mother might use when assuring a small child that cleaning a cut wouldn't hurt even if she knew that it would, before bursting out laughing. "I'm sorry, Squall," she gasped out between her laughter, thinking that her apology would placate Squall.

"What did I ever do to any of you?" Squall muttered quietly as he viciously cut his chicken into bite sized pieces, a pout once again gracing his features, though he would never have admitted it, even on pain of death.

"I know you're mad at all of us for teasin' ya, Squall, but there's really no need to take it out on your chicken, now is there?" Irvine asked teasingly, raising an auburn eyebrow at Squall. Squall raised his knife up, perhaps to look more threatening as he gave a retort to Irvine, though a plastic knife didn't exactly give him the look he was going for.

But before Squall could say a word, Rinoa cut in, trying to calm Squall down a bit. "Aww, poor Squall. We were only teasing you," she said in her sweetest, most sincere voice.

"Yeah, whatever," was Squall's only reply as he once more used his knife to assault his poor chicken. He wasn't really all that mad, just somewhat annoyed. Why did they have to pick on him? Maybe, if it had been someone else, it would have been funny. But things seemed to calm down as everyone began to eat their food, enjoying it along with the nice weather as they all sat around in a small circle quietly munching.

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Author's Note: I just felt in the mood for a bit of light, humor. I know it doesn't have much of a plot, but it was fun to write, and I thought it was kind of cute. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm thinking about adding some more chapters (thou I'm not sure yet, it might remain a one shot) where they reminisce about funny things that happened when they were kids staying at the orphanage, and maybe someone besides Squall will be teased. :) 


	2. Adult Conversation

Summary: Selphie and Rinoa plan a picnic for the whole garden gang. Just a cute, slightly humorous fic. Poor Squall gets teased quite a bit and lots of laughter ensues. 

Disclaimer: Sadly enough, I don't own Final Fantasy VIII.

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CHAPTER TWO: ADULT CONVERSATION 

Once the picnic was over and done with and everyone (except for Nida and Xu who had gone in to finish up a bit of extra paperwork) was sitting around picking at the leftovers or sipping their lemonade, Selphie decided that things were a bit too quiet and, seeing as she was an excellent conversation starter, she decided to do just that.

Picking at a bit of her bread, she tried to think of something interesting to say as she tore her roll into little bite-sized pieces and tossed some out to the birds sitting in the courtyard, Quistis looking on and shaking her head in disapproval as she thought of the "Please do not feed the animals" sign that was posted at the entrance of the quad, though she managed to refrain herself from commenting.

One of the bread crumbs Selphie had thrown got blown off course by the wind so that, instead of landing near the birds as she'd intended it to along with the other pieces of bread she'd thrown, it landed on Squall, right on top of his black leather pants to be precise, which he was wearing, as usual, even in the pre-summer heat.

"Aren't you hot, Squall?" Selphie asked innocently, it was the first thing that came to mind and so she had said it, as there wasn't anything better that she could think of to say.

"What?" was Squall's eloquent reply, his brow creased a bit in confusion, not quite understanding what Selphie was asking him.

"Your pants," Selphie replied, pointing with her roll at the black, leather pants that Squall was wearing to make sure that she got her point across, "aren't they hot?"

Squall stared at her blankly for a moment before turning his gaze downward and to the item in question. He looked at his trademark pants contemplatively for a few seconds before finally coming up with an answer. "Yeah...I guess they kind of are," was the only thing he could think to say, as he shrugged his shoulders dismissively.

"Why don't you wear something else then?" Selphie had merely asked a completely innocent question out of sheer curiosity, a question which, naturally, she would expect to be answered with a just as innocent reply, which was why she certainly didn't expect to get the answer she received.

For it was Seifer who chose to respond to Selphie's inquiry and, as per usual, he just had to come out with a smart-aleck remark. "Didn't you know, Selphie? Squally here's got a leather fetish, probably something to do with that whole bondage thing he's into," Seifer commented nonchalantly, popping a remaining piece of fried chicken into his mouth, still managing to smirk as he chewed (quite a remarkable feat, though not entirely appreciated by the group, especially not by Squall.)

"And how would you know that, Seifer?" Irvine broke into Seifer's triumph with an innuendoes remark (quite characteristic of the cowboy) as he quirked an eyebrow in mocking question. The Galbadian was quite aware that Seifer's comment about bondage had probably spawned from Squall's habit of wearing multiple belts, and he knew just as well as any of them did that there was definitely not anything going on between Seifer and Squall (hell would freeze over before that would happen), but that didn't mean that he couldn't tease them about something going on, now did it?

Seifer and Squall chose to ignore the insidious question, both of them (for once) in agreement, this time a silent one that the question at hand was undeserving of a reply, as Squall chose instead to give Seifer an icy, cold glare, one which he had perfected over the years with Shiva's help.

Seifer's good humor once again returned as he found opportunity to once more poke fun at the commander, an all too common occurrence. "Is that an 'I hate you for always being able to make fun of me' glare or an 'I hate you for always being right' one?" Seifer asked cheekily, chuckling as Squall growled in annoyance.

"It's an 'I hate you for being a stupid prick' glare," Squall spat indignantly, though this seemed not to have the desired affect on Seifer, who merely clutched his chest dramatically as if he had been wounded by Squall's words.

"Ouch. And he gets me with secret option number three," Seifer cried out mockingly as the group (aside from Squall) laughed quietly at the typical antics. Seifer soaked up the attention, basking in the empowering feeling of being the center of attention once again. He had always been this way, at least as far back as he could remember, and now that some of the memories stolen from him by the use of the Guardian Forces had returned (thanks to Dr. Odine) that statement actually had some relevance.

Apparently Quistis was thinking along the same lines as Seifer. "Why do you always have to be so sarcastic, Seifer? I know you've always been that way, but give it a rest once in a while." Her words would have been hurtful had they had a harsh tone instead of the slightly playful one that Quistis had used (which was quite uncharacteristic of her.)

Seifer merely rolled his eyes at her and Selphie giggled like a five-year- old girl (as per usual.) Zell, however, had a puzzled look on his face, as if he couldn't quite fit all the pieces of a scenario together. Finally he voiced what it was he was confused about, hoping the others could help him with fill in all of the pieces of the puzzle. "Seifer hasn't always been like that..." he began, pausing as Seifer sent him a 'what the hell do you think you're talking about' look.

"He's been like that as far as I can remember," Squall commented sulkily, playing with the hem at the bottom of his leather pants that had caused such a commotion but a minute ago.

"Yeah, well, when he was really little, like four I think, he was actually kind of nice," Zell remarked absently, shocking most of his companions (Seifer most of all.) Zell, having realized what he had just said, hastily tried to retract his statement by adding that Seifer's non-offensive behavior hadn't lasted long (perhaps it was this change in behavior that had perplexed him a moment ago.)

Seifer merely snorted and threw his head back in mock arrogance, as he lay stretched out on the checkered cloth, leaning back on his elbows with his nose up in the air. "I don't know what you're talking about," he declared snobbishly, causing everyone to laugh at him once again.

"Yeah, Seifer's always been a pain in the ass, Zell. You of all people should know that," Squall quipped, happy that he could finally get back at Seifer for some of the things he had said. Eye rolling and mild laughter followed that statement, Zell even nodded his head in agreement as Seifer pretended to be offended. Irvine, however, had a devious gleam in his eyes, a warning for what was to come.

"Oh, and here I thought that we had asserted earlier that Seifer was a pain in your ass, Squall," Irvine remarked dryly, the small quirk of his lips belaying the fact that he was merely teasing.

It took a moment for everyone to figure out what exactly it was that Irvine had said, but once they did there was a varying degree of reactions by the other members of the group. Selphie promptly slapped Irvine on the arm as she wrinkled her nose in disgust. Rinoa merely blinked, as if what Irvine had said hadn't quite got through to her. Quistis looked scandalized. Zell looked as if he might just loose his lunch right there on the lawn. Seifer seemed amazed that Irvine would dare say such a thing. Squall (whose reaction was by far the worst) turned bright red and kept opening and shutting his mouth like a fish, making gagging noises in his throat as he tried to comprehend what Irvine had said and adamantly deny it at the same time.

Irvine merely rolled his eyes at all of them. "Come on guys, it wasn't that bad," he commented, snapping all of them out of their stupor. Squall spluttered indignantly, still not able to form an adequate response, as if in protest of Irvine's statement. "You should have seen your guys' faces," the cowboy added with a laugh, "Squall's was definitely the funniest, though. I don't know that he'll ever get over the shock and embarrassment; look, his face is still all red."

At that everyone turned to look at Squall, whose face was indeed still red and had turned even redder shade still at Irvine's mention of him 'looking funny' and the collective gaze that now rested on him. They all, apparently, thought Squall's embarrassed state amusing, for everyone (except for Squall, which in his mind was becoming an all too common occurrence) was smiling and laughing again and Irvine was soon forgiven for his inappropriate comment (by most of the group at least.)

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Author's Note: Yep, I decided to add another chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter, your approval means a lot to me. I know I said that I would probably do something having to do with memories from their childhood, but the chapter just kind of ran away with me. Maybe I'll just have to add another chapter where I do the whole Orphanage Gang memories thing. I know there are kind of some slashy elements in it, and I actually like slash, but in this fic it is all merely in jest. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll try and put another chapter up relatively soon, but I don't know when I'll get around to it (if ever.)  



	3. Sentimental Brilliance

Summary: Selphie and Rinoa plan a picnic for the whole garden gang. Just a cute, slightly humorous fic. Poor Squall gets teased quite a bit and lots of laughter ensues. 

Disclaimer: Sadly enough, I don't own Final Fantasy VIII.

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CHAPTER THREE: SENTIMENTAL BRILLIANCE

Things had settled down once more as everyone lapsed into a momentary silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable one; everyone was merely enjoying the warm sunshine and nice day, so uncharacteristic of Balamb Garden. Everyone seemed to be somewhat lost in their own thoughts as they lounged out on the picnic cloth, basking in the sun.

Selphie was idly picking at the grass, tearing pieces of it off and placing them between her thumbs before bringing them up to her mouth and blowing. She was trying to make a whistling sound this way, but all that came out was a whoosh of air. Giving up after her third failed attempt, she decided that talking to the rest of the group would be far more interesting.

"Too bad Raijin and Fuijin are on a mission right now," she commented. Even though she didn't know either of them too well, she had been rather disappointed that they couldn't attend the little get together that she'd planned.

Rinoa seemed to be in the same frame of mind. "I bet they would have like to come," she added from where she was laying down on the picnic cloth, the sun warming her face and her eyes closed.

Even Zell seemed to agree, although maybe more for having some of Seifer's friends there to distract Seifer than because he truly wanted Raijin and Fuijin around. "It would have been cool if they could've come. I know Fuijin doesn't say much, but Raijin says enough for both of them...ya know?"

Everyone chuckled at the Raijinisc sentence. 'Ya know' was as identifiably Raijin's as 'whatever' was characteristically Squall's.

"He sure does," Seifer intoned from where he was lounging, referring to Zell's earlier comment about how Raijin talked enough for two people. "He's starting to learn when to keep his mouth shut, though. Of course, Fuijin kicking him every time he says something he shouldn't or that she doesn't like is a pretty good way of getting it through to him." Seifer smirked at that, thinking of his posse's typical antics.

"I'm glad you guys came back," Selphie said sincerely, a warm smile gracing her face. Everyone else smiled slightly at that, even Squall, silently showing their agreement with that statement.

Quistis, however, decided to voice her agreement. "I have to admit that I am too. It...it just wasn't the same without you." She seemed somewhat uncomfortable admitting this to Seifer, unsure of what his response would be, but seemed glad that she had done so none the less.

"Yeah, you couldn't have left, not after the whole orphanage gang just got reunited," Selphie added enthusiastically, breaking the uncomfortable silence that Quistis's comment had brought with it.

"Oh come on, stop with all the sentimental bullshit already," Seifer said gruffly, though they could all tell that Selphie and Quistis's words had really meant something to him.

"That's not very nice, Seifer," Rinoa remarked teasingly, a small smile lighting up her face.

"Who ever said I was trying to be nice?" was Seifer's smart-alecky reply, a cocky smirk on his face as per usual.

"Smartass," Squall commented with a snort, shaking his head at Seifer's typical attitude. It was funny how easy it was to get back into the habit of exchanging insults, even if they didn't really mean them now.

"You're one to talk," Seifer intoned dryly. Although Squall didn't usually say much, what he did say was sarcastic more often than not.

"Whatever," Squall replied in his typical fashion, smirking mockingly at Seifer.

"How did I know you were going to say that?" Seifer asked rhetorically, with a smirk to rival Squall's.

"Because that's what he always says?" Zell asked somewhat sarcastically, comically raising one of his blond eyebrows up.

"Yes, it is. When did that start anyway?" Quistis remarked curiously, a contemplative frown on her face as she tried to recall an answer to her own question.

Everyone paused to ponder Quistis's question over (except for Rinoa who had never been a part of the 'Orphanage Gang' and was, by now, feeling somewhat left out), but no one seemed to be able to come up with a definitive answer.

"Hmm...I don't know. Squall wasn't like that—you know with all of the 'whatevers' and the brooding and everything—when we were little, at least not that I can remember," replied Irvine in an attempt to answer Quistis's question.

"I'm right here, you know," Squall commented irritatedly to Irvine, annoyed at the way everyone was talking about him and his behavior as if he couldn't hear what they were saying, despite the fact that he was sitting right next to all of them.

"Whatever," Irvine said in response, smirking as Squall glared at him unhappily, annoyed at having Irvine poke fun at him once again.

Everyone was amused by this and Selphie even went so far as to giggle before hastily trying to redirect the conversation and consequently abate Squall's ire.

"Yeah, I don't remember either," she remarked truthfully, before another (and far more important) thought came to mind. "Hey, when did the whole rivalry thing start?" Selphie asked, thinking back to their childhood together. "I remember that Seifer and Squall used to play together a lot; in fact, I think they were even friends."

"Yeah, they were pretty funny, too," Irvine commented before letting out a loud chuckle. "Hyne, I remember this one time when Seifer and I were having a 'wrestling match' to see who would get to play with Squall; I don't remember why, but that's not really important anyway. Seifer won, only because he cheated—" Irvine was saying before Seifer, who was offended (or at least pretended to be) broke in saying that he hadn't needed to cheat because Irvine was a wimpy, little..."—anyways, Seifer won, so he got to have Squall play with him. Seifer said he wanted to pretend to be a knight in shining armor, like from the fairy tales that Matron used to read to us, and he needed Squall to be the princess because he was mad at Quistis—I think she told Matron that he had poured mud down Zell's shorts or something—and Selphie kept annoying him. And, apparently, you can't be a knight if there's no princess. I tried to tell him that princesses were supposed to be girls, so Squall couldn't be one, but he wouldn't listen to me. Squall was only like three, so he wasn't really old enough to be offended, I think I was like four and Seifer was five already, but anyway, Seifer even stole Selphie's daisy chain that she'd been making and made Squall wear it as a crown. I was kind of mad at Seifer for it back then, but looking back it's absolutely hilarious," Irvine finally finished, no longer able to control his laughter, which had been threatening to interrupt the story all the way through.

By now, everyone except for Squall (who was bright red with embarrassment) and Seifer (who looked as if he could murder Irvine on the spot; he even reached for his gunblade before disappointedly finding it absent from its usual spot) were overcome by bouts of laughter; Selphie and Zell were rolling around on the ground they were laughing so hard.

"Let me get this straight," Rinoa started after she had some control over her laughter, "Seifer made Squall be his princess? Oh Hyne, that is just so cute!" she practically squealed, before reverting to giggling uncontrollably.

Squall glared at her; how could she possibly think it was _cute_? It was embarrassing as hell; why in Hyne's name did Irvine have to bring _that _up? With this thought he shifted his glare to Irvine and if looks could kill, Irvine would have been six feet under.

"Well, Squall looks like a girl; why shouldn't he have been able to be the princess?" Seifer commented, trying to take the heat off of him and make Squall even more embarrassed.

"I don't look like a girl you stupid prick!" Squall yelled angrily. He would have challenged Seifer to a duel, but seeing as neither of them had their gunblades with them, he did the next best thing; he threw Rinoa's plate, unfinished macaroni salad and all, straight at Seifer's smirking face.

The plate hit square on, sticking to Seifer's face and hair before slowly slipping off to land in his lap. His face and front part of his hair was gooey with the macaroni. Everyone was in a state of shock, mouths hanging open, unable to believe that Squall of all people had just done that.

Seifer was the first to recover from the stupor. "That's it, puberty boy, you're going down!" he cried, enraged at the audacity Squall had to mess up not only his immaculate hair, but also his favorite outfit, not to mention his face. With that, he leapt across the picnic cloth and onto Squall.

"Fight! Fight! Fi..." Irvine cried out, before hastily shutting up at the look that the rest of the group (bar Seifer and Squall) was giving him.

Irvine and Zell at Selphie, Rinoa, and Quistis's insistence reluctantly attempted to pull Seifer and Squall apart as Seifer viciously poured vanilla pudding in Squall's hair.

Once the Seifer and Squall had been pulled apart and their appearance was finally noticed—pudding dripping from Squall's hair, macaroni in Seifer's, salad dressing and a couple pieces of lettuce hanging off the front of Squall's tee shirt, grease spots and small pieces of fried chicken marring Seifer's gray pants—everyone (including Seifer and Squall) burst out laughing.

Yep, maybe Squall and Seifer had been friends when they were kids, and still were; they just had an odd way of showing it.

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Author's Note: First off, before I forget, I got the idea for the whole 'princess Squall' thing from something that I saw in another fanfic which was somewhat similar. I don't remember what the name of the fic was or anything, but I thought it was really cute and funny. I hope that the author of the fic doesn't mind my borrowing their idea. (If you are the author and you don't want me using your idea, or anything like that, please just let me know.) Okay, secondly, I want to thank everyone who has reviewed so far; I really appreciate it! I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations; if you were unsatisfied with anything that I wrote, tell me and I might just change it (I wasn't completely satisfied with this chapter myself.) Once again, I don't know if I'll continue with this story (even though I think it might be one of my favorites) because I'm not really sure whether I can continue to think of things (at least things that are funny) that I can write about for it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter; I'll try to update soon, if possible. 


	4. Quite a Sight

Summary: Selphie and Rinoa plan a picnic for the whole garden gang. Just a cute, slightly humorous fic. Poor Squall gets teased quite a bit and lots of laughter ensues.

Disclaimer: Sadly enough, I don't own Final Fantasy VIII.

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CHAPTER FOUR: QUITE A SIGHT

Seeing as how Seifer and Squall were both in desperate need of a shower now, they decided to head off to their respective dorm rooms in order to do so (before the macaroni salad and pudding in turn could begin to dry and adhere to their hair.) Accompanying each other up the pathway that led back into the garden, Seifer and Squall endured the stares and curious looks they received from the many passer-bys, who, at the combined effects of Seifer and Squall's glares, refrained from commenting on the rivals' interesting (and, to many, highly amusing) appearance.

The rest of the group watched as the other two rushed out of the quad doors, eager to get changed out of their food splattered clothes. When he was certain that Seifer and Squall were gone for good and, therefore, wouldn't here his nefarious plan, Irvine turned with a wicked grin on his face and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes to the rest of the group.

"Well, now that those two are gone, I believe it's time we talked about a little _revenge_," he commented with a smirk to rival one of Seifer's, seemingly very pleased with himself.

The rest of the group merely looked at him as if he had completely lost it, confusion over what the hell Irvine was talking about clearly showing on their features. They looked around at each other, silently asking whether anyone had any idea what Irvine was referring to. When enough shrugs and shaking of the head had gone around and it became apparent that no one else was in on Irvine's little plan, Zell finally decided to speak up on behalf of the group.

"Umm...Irvine? What in Hyne's name are you talking about?" he asked incredulously, raising a blonde eyebrow in question.

Irvine's face fell suddenly as he realized that no one else remembered 'the incident.' "For Odin's sake, are you telling me that none of you remember?!" he exclaimed, unable to believe what Zell had just said. When all he received were blank stares and Zell moving his finger in a circular motion around his temple as if to signal to the others that Irvine was, indeed, crazy, he felt a surge of frustration. "Did somebody cast confusion on you all or something? Don't you remember last month when Seifer and Squall got mad at us for trying to break up their sparring session and decided to get us back for it by playing a little prank?" he prompted, sure that this bit of information would help jog their memories.

The rest of the group pondered what Irvine had just said, searching their memories for some such incidence, but all came up blank. Quistis seemed, by far, the most irritated about not being able to remember. She was an instructor—the youngest one in the history of Balamb garden—and she couldn't even remember an event that had happened last month?! It was like the GF induced memory lapses that they'd had before, only it couldn't be that because Dr. Odine had found a cure to those.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I certainly don't remember," Quistis declared, desperately hoping she was not the only one who seemed to be lacking in memory. Selphie, Zell, and Rinoa all voiced their agreement to Quistis's statement; they certainly didn't remember either.

Irvine let out a slight groan as he resigned himself to quickly explaining to his forgetful friends what had transpired not 30 days before. "Okay, so we were sitting in the cafeteria during our lunch break when Seifer and Squall suddenly showed up and— " Irvine began before Quistis suddenly (and quite rudely in his opinion) cut in.

"Wait, hold on just a minute. Why would they want to get back at us just for breaking up one of their 'training sessions'?" Quistis asked skeptically.

"Well...I didn't mention exactly _how_ we broke up the fight..." Irvine stated guiltily, letting the sentence trail, as if he was reluctant to tell them what they had done in order to deserve Seifer and Squall's revenge. "You see, we were in the training center looking for Seifer and Squall because they never showed up to the Festival Committee meeting. We figured that they must be 'training' or rather sparring; why else would they have forgotten? Well, we were right, they _were_ in there fighting—big surprise—over on that little bridge/platform thing that runs over the pond, you know? When they wouldn't stop fighting, Selphie told me to break it up and so I did the only thing that made sense to me at the time—I pushed the two of them into the pond." Here he paused to gauge everyone's reaction to the story so far. Quistis, Selphie, Rinoa, and Zell were frozen in shock for a moment, mouths hanging open in surprise, before they all promptly burst out laughing. This being the reaction Irvine was waiting for, he moved on.

"Well, needless to say, Seifer and Squall were furious. Thankfully Squall was wearing his SeeD uniform at the time, because if the water had ruined his favorite, trademark leather pants that he wears _all_ the time—even when it happens to be the middle of summer—then heads would role, starting with mine. Seifer, however, had been wearing his gray trench coat, which got completely soaked through with the smell of pond scum.

"They were soaked to the bone. Everyone was stunned. But once the shock wore off, the rest of us began to laugh uproariously. Of course, Seifer and Squall glared daggers at us as they made their way out of the pond, their clothes dripping with water. Then they made their way to the exit, a shlip-shlop noise being made by their sopping clothes as the walked. This, of course, only made the rest of us laugh all the harder.

"They finally made their way to the exit, with the rest of us following, and were about to leave the training center, when Squall just froze dead in his tracks. Then he started frantically ripping his jacket off, before throwing it to the ground. I was, naturally, wondering what in Hyne's name was going on—until I got a good look at his arms that is. There were all these little, brown, slug-like creatures latched onto his skin. Only they weren't slugs; they were leeches.

"We were all watching this, Seifer included. Of course Seifer then froze with shock as well, seeing as he was covered in the same pond water as Squall. Seifer and Squall just stood there, stunned, looking at each other for a moment before both of them began to strip. I swear on Eden's name that I have _never_ seen _anyone_ take their clothes off as quickly as they did at that moment—and I've seen a _lot_ of people take their clothes off before.

"So, soon they were left standing there with just their boxers on, desperately picking the leeches from their skin and each others. After all of them had been removed, thrown to the ground, and everyone had stepped away, Quistis over here cast a fire spell and burnt the little buggers to a crisp," Irvine described with a chuckle as the others looked on with amazement and amusement. Seeing as the best part, or at least _his_ favorite part, was coming up, Irvine paused dramatically for effect before continuing.

"We finally left the training center—Squall and Seifer still just in their boxers mind you—when we ran into a member of the Garden faculty. Well, you know how all those faculty members have a stick up their ass and are such a stickler for rules; he told Seifer and Squall that their 'attire was not in accordance to Garden's dress code.' We tried to explain what had happened to him, but he wouldn't listen and h-he ma-made—" here Irvine broke into hysterics, unable to continue because he was laughing so hard. The four listening intently to his story leaned in closer to him in anticipation of what was to come next, attempting to prompt Irvine to tell them the rest.

Finally Irvine reigned in his uncontrollable laughter, taking a few deep breathes to calm himself before finishing what he had started to say before he had completely lost it. "As I was saying, he told Seifer and Squall that they couldn't walk around practically naked through the halls. So he made me take off my coat and give it to Seifer to wear and then forced Squall to put on _Rinoa's_ jacket—the blue, sweater one!" he cried out as the laughter seized him once more. "They had to wear them all the way back to their dorm rooms, practically the whole school saw; it was the funniest thing I have ever seen!"

By now the rest of the group had broken down laughing as well. The image of Seifer and Squall trudging through the hallways sopping wet and in Irvine's too small jacket and Rinoa's girly one respectively was almost too much for them to handle. "Ifrit's whip, are you serious?!" Rinoa managed to gasp out, laughing even harder when she got a nod of affirmation from Irvine.

They finally stopped laughing when their need for air grew too great and attempted to calm themselves down. "Well, I'm sure that must have made quite a sight," Quistis commented wryly. The rest voiced their agreement to her comment.

"Yep, it most certainly did," Irvine informed her, "It was quite a sight to see; too bad you all seem to have forgotten it."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's Note: First off, I would like to thank everyone for the wonderful reviews I received for chapter 3. I hope that this chapter is up to par; I was having trouble thinking of anything that might be even remotely humorous for the longest time. Next chapter (whenever I get a chance to work on it) will be about what Seifer and Squall did to get back at the rest of the gang for what happened. And the reason why everyone but Irvine forgot about what happened will also be explained. This story is going in quite a different direction than I expected, but I hope you all like it. The next chapter probably won't be up for quite a while (I've got like 10 or so other stories that I should work on as well), but I'll try and post it as quickly as possible. Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors there may be; I posted this as soon as I finished it. If you see any, just let me know, and I'll try to correct them.


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